The William E. Stafford Archives, Series 1, Sub-Series 5: Writings for Public Readings and Workshops, 1960-1993
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Overview of the Collection

Creator

Stafford, William, 1914-1993

Title

The William E. Stafford Archives, Series 1, Sub-Series
5: Writings for Public Readings and Workshops

Dates

1960-1993 (inclusive)

19601993

Quantity

3 cubic feet, (6 boxes)

Collection Number

OLPb115STA

Summary

William Stafford (1914-1993) was one of the most
prolific and important American poets of the last half of the twentieth century.
This subseries of the collection includes copies of poems that were used primarily
for readings, lectures, and workshops. Many were unpublished and Stafford used them
for public presentations to determine whether or not they might be suitable for
publication. As a result of this practice, the sub-series also includes gatherings
of poems deemed suitable and unsuitable for publication. The Index to the entire
Stafford Archives can be found at: http://nwda-db.wsulibs.wsu.edu/findaid/ark:/80444/xv83782

William Stafford (1914-1993) was one of the most prolific and important American
poets of the last half of the twentieth century. Among his many credentials,
Stafford served as consultant in poetry at the Library of Congress, and received the
National Book Award for his poetry collection Traveling through the
Dark (1963). During his lifetime, Stafford wrote over sixty books of
poetry that still resonate with both scholars and general readers. Stafford’s
perspectives on peace, the environment, and education serve as some of the most
articulate and engaging dialogues by a modern American writer about three of the
most important issues of the second half of the twentieth century with lasting
impacts on future generations. Howard Zinn, one America’s most iconic modern
historians, was keenly aware of Stafford’s insight into modern American culture.
Zinn claimed, “William Stafford’s prose and poetry, wise and eloquent, speak
directly to the violence of our time, and to our hope for a different world” (from
cover of Every War Has Two Losers).

The William Stafford Archives, donated to Lewis & Clark College by the Stafford
family in 2008, contain the private papers, publications, photographs, recordings,
and teaching materials of the poet William Stafford. The Lewis & Clark College
Special Collections actively add to this collection by acquiring unique Stafford
related materials.

Stafford wrote every day of his life from 1950 to 1993. These 20,000 pages of daily
writings form a complete record of the poet’s mostly early morning meditations,
including poem drafts, dream records, aphorisms, and other visits to the
unconscious, recorded on separate sheets of yellow or white paper or when traveling,
often in spiral-bound reporters’ steno pads. The archive also includes typescripts
of poems submitted for publication and for use in readings. Stafford listed where he
submitted each poem, and whether it was accepted for publication on the typescript.
Each of his published collections, large and small, is represented by its gathering
of documentary copies (typescripts), called by Stafford a “put-together.”
Unpublished poems, poems published in journals, and reading copies of published
poems were also gathered, in a virtually complete record from 1937 to 1993, totaling
about 7,000 items. The collection also includes copies of all known Stafford books
and translations. Stafford saved correspondence received, with an indication of the
date of reply, and sometimes a copy of the reply, from the early 1960s to August
1993. Estimated at 100,000 sheets, the collected correspondence contains some full
exchanges of correspondence initiated by WS. One such exchange is the correspondence
with Marvin Bell on their sequence Segues. In addition to many
photographs of and relating to William Stafford, the archive includes an estimated
20,000 photographs and negatives taken and developed by Stafford of fellow poets,
family, friends, and Lewis & Clark College faculty. The archive provides
documentation of Stafford's teaching career, including more than one thousand index
cards, some dating from research at Iowa, others from later. These were much used in
preparing for classes, workshops, and lectures. The files also contain scattered
notes for workshops and lectures. The archive also includes course syllabi, and
faculty documents relating to Stafford's teaching years at Lewis & Clark
College.